Senators top Blues with determined performance

ST. LOUIS – The Senators ended a tough three-game road trip with one of their gutsiest games of the season, a 5-4 shootout win.

After losing in regulation to the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday and in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins Monday, the Senators wanted to salvage something from their brief visit to the Gateway city. And they managed a hard-fought two points by stunning the Blues with three shootout goals on Jaroslav Halak, including the winner by Kyle Turris.

Talk about an upset – the Blues had been 53-0-1 in their last 54 games at home in which they’d scored at least three goals.

In addition, St. Louis had not lost to an Eastern Conference team on home ice before Ottawa’s arrival. The Senators finish the season series 2-0, and the Blues will be glad to see the last of them.

The stars aligned in the eastern standings for Ottawa as Washington and Carolina both lost.

Despite a late arrival the night before, the Senators produced a spirited effort against the Blues, one of the league’s toughest to face in their own rink. With the loss, St. Louis fell to 20-6-2 at the Scottrade Center.

Ottawa’s shining moment came in the third period as the Senators stormed back from a 3-1 deficit to surge ahead 4-3 on three goals, one by Jason Spezza, by Milan Michalek, set up by Spezza and a flukey one from the corner by Turris.

The Blues tied the game on a funny one of their own, as a Jordan Leopold shot went in off Lehner from a bad angle.

As was case in Pittsburgh, the Senators found themselves in penalty trouble — some calls warranted but a couple very dubious, leading to further frustration. Winger Clarke MacArthur received a 10-minute misconduct for expressing his displeasure at the end of 40 minutes.

The teams traded second period goals, as Erik Karlsson tied the game 1-1 with a blast off a stunning, no-look backhand pass from Jason Spezza at 14:50. Spezza would set up another beauty on the backhand in the third, a Milan Michalek goal to make things interesting. `

Less than 20 seconds later, the Blues regained their lead on one of the strangest goals of the season. No one saw where the puck ended up (in the crowd? In the netting?), off a T.J. Oshie shot, until Oshie peered from behind the net to find the puck trapped in the roof of the netting. “It’s in the net,” Oshie told the closest official. Up under the water bottle holder.

In a cautious first period, the Senators were holding their own, outshooting the Blues and trading off zone time, until a giveaway led to the Blues first goal.

Winger Colin Greening was carrying the puck past his blueline when his pass through the neutral zone was picked off by Blues centre Patrik Berglund. Berglund started a sequence that ended with Brenden Morrow tipping a Berglund pass into an open net for his ninth goal of the season.

Robin Lehner, who had to be brilliant at times in Ottawa’s goal, had no chance. The Lehner faced 50 shots, a season-high total for St. Louis .

The game was chippy, apparently a carryover from the team’s previous meeting in December. Senators winger Milan Michalek bore the brunt of the ill will when defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk launched into him with a high hit, for which there was no penalty.

In the dying seconds of the opening period Michalek nearly tied the game when he took a pass in the slot and blasted a shot that leaked through Jaroslav Halak and trickled off the goal post.

GAME FILE

WHY THEY WON
A mad at the world attitude seemed to work in this one.

CHEERS
To killing off a one minute, 55-second five-on-three situation in the second period, punctuated by Lehner’s glove save off Kevin Shattenkirk.

JEERS
To Blues coach Ken Hitchcock for sending enforcer Ryan Reaves to centre ice for the opening faceoff, a message to Ottawa centre Zack Smith. ECHL anyone? The Blues didn’t like Smith’s hit on Alex Steen Dec. 16, but Hitchcock said beforehand there would be no retribution. Not much ensued, but the NHL can do without the macho posturing.

WEATHER WATCH

After their game, the weather became the focus for the Senators and their entourage, expected to leave for Ottawa on a charter flight late in the evening. St. Louis was belted by a snowstorm Tuesday and commercial flights in and out of the city were affected.